O Woe to you Oh Earth and Sea...

Following on from yesterday’s prophetic(ish) title I’m stealing from Revelations 12:12 as the introduction to what is widely regarded as one of the greatest heavy metal songs ever by a band who, in my opinion, are hard to beat as a live act. Iron Maiden’s The Number of the Beast. This is another of those records that filled my formative years. I remember buying it one lunch time, taking a £5 note to the shop around the corner from me and coming back with the album in a brown paper bag. I rushed upstairs to my folk’s bedroom, the temporary home of the record player during redecoration of the living room, and got the album on and playing loud as I could without getting in too much trouble.

The Number of the Beast opened the second side of the album, and that makes me feel old to say that! A creepy Vincent Price type voice quietly spoke the introduction of Bible quotes from the Book of Revelation before the guitar riff kicks in followed by the slightly desperate, breathy opening lines from Bruce Dickinson “I left alone, my mind was blank, I needed time to think to get the memories from my mind...” culminating at the end of the first verse in a very guttural scream.

As you can imagine in the early 80s our conservative cousins across the pond decided that this was all terribly demonic, a celebration of evil sent to corrupt the youth and eat puppies...or something. There were many protests to disrupt the supporting tour in the States and declarations of the band being “Satanists”. So what’s the song actually about? Well it’s was inspired by two things. One was a nightmare about being trapped in Hell that the band’s bassist (and founding member) Steve Harris had after watching a horror film and then based it around the story told in Robert Bruce’s 18th century poem Tam o’Shanter. It is certainly a tale of warning, of being trapped by the evil he sees but is unable to decide is just his imagination or something that is actually happening to him. To me it’s a song that works in it’s simple storytelling style coupled with Bruce giving an appropriate voice reflecting the emotions of the character from the disbelief through frustration and fear and finally to vengeance once he is finally trapped.

So what about the band? Iron Maiden certainly aren’t the darlings of the airwaves. They’ve never had a lot of airplay yet still managed to sell over 70 million records and sell out tour after tour after tour over the last 30 odd years. What do they have? For me it’s the fact that they are pretty much the man in the street. They have no egos to speak of and are not spoken of in the press as scandal makers mired in drink, drugs, woman and everything else that gets tied up with the Rock n Roll machine. For many years now they’ve taken their families on tour with them and even held paying jobs! Bruce Dickinson is a qualified commercial pilot and works for Astraeus airlines. This led to a tour in which the band chartered a 757 (Ed Force One), piloted by Bruce, where they could take the show to places that in the past bands could never get to (mainly due to the accountants). I met Bruce at Sheffield railway station on the afternoon they were playing at the City Hall. I was sat waiting for some friends passing the time drinking coffee and reading my book. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a chap in a bright orange jacket walk past me and meet with his wife and youngster who were sat behind me. I was certainly rather taken aback at this as it’s not what you expect from such big stars.

They now have a line up with three guitarists Dave Murray who has pretty much been there since the start, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers so have a really great, deep sound and with the longer songs there is plenty of space in them for all their skills to be heard. Nicko McBrain has been playing the drums with them since 1982 – and he really can play! Nicko certainly makes it into the top ten percussionists for me and is looked upon by other drummers as an influence – Tommy Lee (Motley Crue) once described him as an octopus after watching him play. I remember Nicko appearing on the Sooty Show (Sooty was a hand puppet) when Sooty wanted to start a band. Since then a Sooty puppet has regularly attached to the front of his kit.

The last member of the band is Steve Harris. Steve started the band in 1975 and is certainly a very strong driving force. He has written the lion’s share of the song and lyrics with a myriad of subjects and influences. From the books of Dune by Frank Herbert (To Tame A Land), Poetry (Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Dance of Death), Wars (Tailgunner, The Trooper, Paschendale), religious zealotry (Holy Smoke, Montségur) to fantasy/sci-fi type numbers (Seventh Son of a Seventh Son). Steve also has a readily recognisable sound from the flat-wound strings he uses (and changes daily to keep the bright sound). Many of the bass lines gallop along – very appropriately demonstrated in The Trooper about the Charge of the Light Brigade.

I’ve seen Maiden play many, many times. I first saw them in 1988 when they headed the bill at the Monsters of Rock festival at Donington. I’ve seen them in places like Whitley Bay Ice Rink, Wembley Arena and Sheffield City Hall and never, ever been disappointed. From the second they hit the stage to the final encore you know they are giving it everything they’ve got.

Now I’m 22 years older than my first concert experience with them and now my kids are regularly exposed to Iron Maiden in the car, my eldest has Can I Play with Madness as a ring tone on her mobile phone and they’ve watched the videos on YouTube and from DVDs. So I’m really looking forward to the end of next month when we go away to the Sonisphere Festival at Knebworth as Maiden are closing it out on the Sunday night. I have a feeling they are not going to disappoint.



Woe to You Oh Earth and Sea for the Devil sends the beast with wrath
because he knows the time is short


Let him who have understanding reckon the number of the beast
for it is a human number its number is six hundred and sixty six.


I left alone my mind was blank
I needed time to think to get the memories from my mind
What did I see?  Could I believe?
That what I saw that night was real and not just fantasy
Just what I saw in my own dreams
were they reflections of my warped mind staring back at me?
'Cause in my dreams it's always there
the evil face that twists my mind and brings me to despair


Night was black was no use holding back
'Cause I just had to see was someone watching me

In the mist dark figures move and twist
was all this for real or just some kind of hell
6-6-6 the Number of the Beast
Hell and fire were spawned to be released


Torches blazed and sacred chants were praised
as they start to cry hands held to the sky

In the night the fires are burning bright
the ritual has begun Satan's work is done
6-6-6 the Number of the Beast
Sacrifice is going on tonight

This can't go on I must inform the Lord
Can this still be real or just some crazy dream?
but I feel drawn towards the chanting hordes
seem to mesmerise...can't avoid their eyes
6-6-6 the Number of the Beast
6-6-6 the one for you and me

I'm coming back I will return
And I'll possess your body and I'll make you burn
I'll have the fire I'll have the force
I'll have the power to make my evil take its course